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The Catholic martyrs of the English Reformation are men and women executed under treason legislation in the English Reformation, between 1534 and 1680, and recognised as martyrs by the Catholic Church. Though consequences of the English Reformation were felt in Ireland and Scotland as well, this article only covers those who died in the Kingdom of England.
On 25 February 1570, Pope Pius V's "Regnans in Excelsis" bull excommunicated the English Queen Elizabeth I, and any who obeyed her. This papal bull also required all Catholics to rebel against the English Crown as a matter of faith. In response, in 1571 legislation was enacted making it treasonable to be under the authority of the pope, including being a Jesuit, being Catholic or harbouring a Catholic priest. The standard penalty for all those convicted of treason at the time was execution by being hanged, drawn and quartered.
In the reign of Pope Gregory XIII (1572–85), authorisation was given for 63 recognised martyrs to have their relics honoured and pictures painted for Catholic devotions. These martyrs were formally beatified by Pope Leo XIII, 54 in 1886 and the remaining nine in 1895. Further groups of martyrs were subsequently documented and proposed by the Catholic bishops of England and Wales and formally recognised by Rome. [1]
In 1874 a process was begun, containing 353 names, to which six were added in Rome, making 359. [2] Of those:
As well as those listed below, John Fisher and Thomas More were beatified on this date, as were 11 members [lower-alpha 1] of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, making a total of 54.
As well as those listed below, 29 members [lower-alpha 2] of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales were also beatified on that date, making a total of 136. This beatification was attended by G.K. Chesterton as detailed in his book The Resurrection of Rome.
As stated above, John Travers was executed in Dublin and appears in Irish Catholic Martyrs. The total number of those declared venerable in 1886 and not subsequently beatified is therefore 30.
They "were left with their fate still in suspense, and are called Dilati. [36 of them were] "Confessors", who certainly died in prison for their faith, though it is not yet proven that they died precisely because of their imprisonment...[the remaining eight – William Tyrrwhit, James Atkinson, Matthias Harrison, Fr. Henry Garnet, S.J., John Mawson, Thomas Dyer, Lawrence Hill and Robert Green] were put off for various causes." [38] Those 'put off' are listed below in italics.
During the reign of Henry VIII of England.
During the reign of Mary I, papal authority was officially reinstated and under three hundred of the minority Protestant population were martyred. [49] Upon Elizabeth I's accession to the throne, an Act of Supremacy denied papal authority over the English church; but only a decade later, in February 1570, did Pope Pius V excommunicate Elizabeth and any who obeyed her, issuing the bull Regnans in Excelsis , which purported to "release[ Elizabeth I's] subjects from their allegiance to her". [50]
In the words of the New Catholic Encyclopedia, "Without question it was Elizabeth I's intention to supplant the old religion with the new in a bloodless manner. It is significant that there were no martyrs in the first 12 years of her reign, and only five in the years 1570 to 1577." [51] Of those five, Thomas Plumtree had been chaplain to the insurgents in the Rising of the North, John Felton had published Pope Pius V's Bull Regnans in Excelsis ("reigning on high"), excommunicating Queen Elizabeth, John Story was tried for high treason, for having supported the Rising of the North and encouraging the Duke of Alba to invade, Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland, had led the Rising of the North, and Thomas Woodhouse had declared in a letter to William Cecil that Elizabeth "for her own great disobedience is most justly deposed". [52]
The threat of invasion by a Roman Catholic country assisted by English subjects led the Crown to try to repress Roman Catholicism. [53] Responding to Pius V's action, Elizabeth I's government passed anti-Roman Catholic decrees in 1571 forbidding anyone from maintaining the jurisdiction of the pope by word, deed or act; requiring use of the Book of Common Prayer in all cathedrals, churches and chapels, and forbidding criticism of it; forbidding the publication of any bull, writing or instrument of the Holy See (the death penalty was assigned to this); and prohibiting the importing of Agnus Dei images, crosses, pictures, beads or other things from the Bishop of Rome.
Later laws made illegal the drawing of anyone away from the state church; non-attendance at a Church of England church; raising children with teachers who were not licensed by an Anglican diocesan bishop; and attending or celebrating the Roman Catholic Mass.
In 1585, a new decree made it a crime punishable by death to go overseas to receive the sacrament of Ordination to the Roman Catholic priesthood. Nicholas Devereux (who went by the alias of Nicholas Woodfen) and Edward Barber (see below Edward Stransham) were both put to death in 1586 under this law. William Thomson and Richard Lea (see below Richard Sergeant) were hanged, disembowelled and quartered under the same law. In 1588, eight priests and six laymen at Newgate were condemned and executed under this law. [53]
The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales or Cuthbert Mayne and Thirty-Nine Companion Martyrs are a group of Catholic, lay and religious, men and women, executed between 1535 and 1679 for treason and related offences under various laws enacted by Parliament during the English Reformation. The individuals listed range from Carthusian monks who in 1535 declined to accept Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy, to seminary priests who were caught up in the alleged Popish Plot against Charles II in 1679. Many were sentenced to death at show trials, or with no trial at all.
William Way was an English Catholic priest and martyr executed under Elizabeth I after the Protestant Reformation. He is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church in the United Kingdom is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with the Pope. While there is no ecclesiastical jurisdiction corresponding to the political union, this article refers to the Catholic Church's geographical representation in mainland Britain as well as Northern Ireland, ever since the establishment of the UK's predecessor Kingdom of Great Britain by the Union of the Crowns in 1707.
The Venerable English College, commonly referred to as the English College, is a Catholic seminary in Rome, Italy, for the training of priests for England and Wales. It was founded in 1579 by William Allen on the model of the English College, Douai.
Irish Catholic Martyrs were 24 Irish men and women who have been beatified or canonized for dying for their Catholic faith between 1537 and 1681 in Ireland. The canonisation of Oliver Plunkett in 1975 brought an awareness of the others who died for the Catholic faith in the 16th and 17th centuries. On 22 September 1992 Pope John Paul II proclaimed a representative group from Ireland as martyrs and beatified them.
Swithun Wells was an English Roman Catholic martyr who was executed during the reign of Elizabeth I. Wells was a country gentleman and one time schoolmaster whose family sheltered hunted priests. He himself often arranged passage from one safehouse to another. His home in Gray's Inn Lane was known to welcome recusants.
David Lewis, S.J. was a Jesuit Catholic priest and martyr who was also known as Charles Baker. Lewis was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales and is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. His feast day is celebrated on 27 August.
Polydore Plasden (1563–1591) was one of the Catholic Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. A native of London, he studied for the priesthood at Rheims and Rome and was ordained in 1586 before being sent back to England soon after.
Edward James was an English Catholic priest and martyr.
The Eighty-five Martyrs of England and Wales, also known as George Haydock and Eighty-four Companion Martyrs, are a group of men who were executed on charges of treason and related offences in the Kingdom of England between 1584 and 1679. Of the eighty-five, seventy-five were executed under the Jesuits, etc. Act 1584.
Events from the 1580s in England.
William Patenson was an English Roman Catholic priest and martyr. He was beatified in 1929.
John Pibush was an English Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1929.
Richard Sergeant (executed at Tyburn, 20 April 1586) was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.
William Dean or Deane was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is one of the Catholic martyrs, beatified in 1929.
St Richard's Catholic College, or St. Richard's, is a secondary school in East Sussex, in the United Kingdom. It is a voluntary aided school, maintained by East Sussex County Council. The school is situated in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton. St. Richard's was rated 'good' by Ofsted in 2022, which was downgraded from its previous inspection in 2006, when it was rated ‘outstanding’. Of the school community, the HM Inspectorate commented, 'The social, moral, spiritual and cultural development of students is outstanding'. St Richard's also scored a Level 1 in each section of its 2018 Denominational Inspection Report.
The Oaten Hill Martyrs were Catholic Martyrs who were executed by hanging, drawing and quartering at Oaten Hill, Canterbury, on 1 October 1588. The gallows had been put up in 1576. These four were beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1929.
Thomas Holford (1541–1588) was an English Protestant schoolteacher who became a Catholic priest during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He was martyred at Clerkenwell in London, and is recognised by the Catholic Church as having the status of Blessed.
Richard Martin was an English martyr. A layman, Martin was charged with being a "receiver and maintainer of priests" for having bought supper for Robert Morton, a priest.
During the English Reformation, a number of believers were executed at Lancaster in England as a consequence of their Catholic faith. They are commonly referred to as the Lancaster Martyrs and are commemorated locally by the Lancaster Martyrs Memorial Stone which may be found close to the centre of Lancaster city.